Country Thunder cancelled days before festival kickoff
Music festival blames city noise rules and construction; Mayor Farkas says organizers made a business decision and should own it.
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Country Thunder Alberta is cancelled, just two days before the music festival was set to begin at The Confluence Historic Site and Parkland in Calgary on Friday, June 25.
Organizers cited several barriers, including restrictive sound limitations, traffic reduction on 9th Avenue, construction near the festival grounds, and a last-minute water bypass pipe installation. "Taken individually, each of these barriers would represent a serious challenge. Together, they create conditions that no responsible event organizer can accept," the online statement said.
But Mayor Jeromy Farkas rejected that framing. "To be clear, Country Thunder made a business decision. It should own that decision, instead of blaming the city for rules and conditions that it knew about well in advance," he said. The city confirmed it actually increased the decibel limit this year for Country Thunder, and the new Stampede noise rules would not have applied to them anyway.
Country Thunder spokesperson Megan Benoit said Radio the sound limits were "the nail in the coffin." She said the festival's curfew has always been 11 p.m., yet the organizers pointed to noise restrictions as unworkable for live music. Farkas said organizers are "trying to bandwagon and dogpile onto the misinformation" from earlier disputes with another festival.
All ticket holders will receive refunds. This would have been the festival's 10th year; it was moved up from August to late June to align with peak tourist season and Stampede.